Czar Saoirse~Socialist Extraordinaire
Mo sheacht mbeannacht ort!Profile
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USER DEACTIVATEDCzar Saoirse~Socialist Extraordinaire's Profile URL: http://www.sodahead.com/user/profile/205003/czar-saoirsesocialist-extraordinaire/- Post Graduate School
- Pagan
- Progressive
- White/Caucasian
About Me
RIP Neda!
WHY DRUIDS AND PAGANS DON'T CELEBRATE ST. PATRICK'S DAY
Patrick was a Christian priest whose job it was to convert the population of Ireland to Christianity. The Druids, however, stood in his way. The Druids were very important people in Ireland at that time, and their symbol was the Snake of Wisdom. Druids could be priests of the old religion of Ireland, but there were also much more.
One part of the Druid class were the "Bards", whose job it was to remember all of the history of the people, as well as to record current events. Because the Irish Celts did not rely on a written language, everything had to be memorized. Bards were poets and musicians, and used music and poetry to help them remember their history exactly. Because of this, Bards were highly respected members of the Irish society. The Irish believed that history was very important, for if you didn't remember what had happened in the past, you couldn't safely plan for the future. Bards, therefore, held the future of the people in safekeeping.
Another important part of the Druidic class were the "Brehons". Brehons were the Judges and the Keepers of the Laws. The Celtic people had a highly complicated society, and with it, a highly developed set of laws. Brehons trained for many years to learn the laws of the people, so that whenever there was a dispute, the Brehon could fairly decide the matter and make peace. The laws were there to make sure that everyone; man, woman, and child, were treated fairly and with respect. Because of the wisdom that the Brehons held, and the knowledge of the laws of the society, they too, like the Bards, were held with much respect.
And, of course, there were the Druid Priests. This branch of the Druid set were the keepers of the knowledge of Earth and Spirits. It was their responsibility to learn the Spirit World, in order to keep people and Earth in harmony. Priests performed marriages and "baptisms", they were healers, and psychiatrists. The Priests were the wise grandparents to whom you could go with a problem. They were there to help you solve them, with the help of the Earth and the Spirit World.
Into this world of the Irish Celts entered a highly energetic and devoted Christian Priest named Patrick. Because he believed so strongly in the tenets of Christianity, he thought that anyone who was not Christian had to become one in order to be "saved". He came to Ireland to convert the Irish people to Christianity.
The Irish people at that time were happy and doing quite well without Patrick and his ideas, but he was persistent. He noticed that the Druids were really the important people of the society. He thought that if he could convert the Druids to Christianity, the rest of the people would follow. Patrick's main problem was that the Druids were very comfortable with what they had already learned, and were not willing to change. Druids had spent their entire lives learning the ways of the people, and were the last people who were willing to change.
Although Patrick was not willing to abandon his vision of a Christian Ireland, he was getting desperate. He knew that because the strength of the people rested with the Druids, he had to get rid of them in order to get the people to listen to him.
Patrick was not alone in his efforts. He had brought many people with him from Britain to establish the new religion. Patrick began to destroy the influence of the Druids by destroying the sacred sites of the people and building churches and monasteries where the Druids used to live and teach. Gradually, the might of the Druidic class was broken by a bitter campaign of attrition. Instead of hearing the teachings and advice of the Druids, the people began to hear the teachings of Rome. Because the Druids were the only ones who were taught to remember the history, with the Druids dead and their influence broken, the history was forgotten.
Patrick won. By killing off the teachers and the wise ones, his own religion could be taught. For this mass conversion of a culture to Christianity, and for the killing of thousands of innocent people, Patrick was made a Saint by his church.
So while I love my Irish heritage and the culture I do not celebrate the murder of my ancestors or the man that murdered them.
PRO-AMERICAN, FAR LEFT-WING RADICAL ACTIVIST AND ENVIRONMENTALIST SINCE 1969
'TIME HAS COME TO REAFFIRM OUR ENDURING SPIRIT'
My fellow citizens:
I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors. I thank President Bush for his service to our nation, as well as the generosity and cooperation he has shown throughout this transition.
Forty-four Americans have now taken the presidential oath. The words have been spoken during rising tides of prosperity and the still waters of peace. Yet, every so often the oath is taken amidst gathering clouds and raging storms. At these moments, America has carried on not simply because of the skill or vision of those in high office, but because We the People have remained faithful to the ideals of our forbearers, and true to our founding documents.
So it has been. So it must be with this generation of Americans.
That we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood. Our nation is at war, against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred. Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age. Homes have been lost; jobs shed; businesses shuttered. Our health care is too costly; our schools fail too many; and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet.
These are the indicators of crisis, subject to data and statistics. Less measurable but no less profound is a sapping of confidence across our land — a nagging fear that America's decline is inevitable, and that the next generation must lower its sights.
Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America — they will be met.
On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.
On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics.
We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things. The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.
In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has never been one of short-cuts or settling for less. It has not been the path for the faint-hearted — for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame. Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things — some celebrated but more often men and women obscure in their labor, who have carried us up the long, rugged path towards prosperity and freedom.
For us, they packed up their few worldly possessions and traveled across oceans in search of a new life.
For us, they toiled in sweatshops and settled the West; endured the lash of the whip and plowed the hard earth.
For us, they fought and died, in places like Concord and Gettysburg; Normandy and Khe Sahn.
Time and again these men and women struggled and sacrificed and worked till their hands were raw so that we might live a better life. They saw America as bigger than the sum of our individual ambitions; greater than all the differences of birth or wealth or faction.
This is the journey we continue today. We remain the most prosperous, powerful nation on Earth. Our workers are no less productive than when this crisis began. Our minds are no less inventive, our goods and services no less needed than they were last week or last month or last year. Our capacity remains undiminished. But our time of standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions — that time has surely passed. Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.
For everywhere we look, there is work to be done. The state of the economy calls for action, bold and swift, and we will act — not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth. We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together. We will restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology's wonders to raise health care's quality and lower its cost. We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age. All this we can do. And all this we will do.
Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions — who suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans. Their memories are short. For they have forgotten what this country has already done; what free men and women can achieve when imagination is joined to common purpose, and necessity to courage.
What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them— that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer apply. The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works — whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified. Where the answer is yes, we intend to move forward. Where the answer is no, programs will end. And those of us who manage the public's dollars will be held to account — to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day — because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government.
Nor is the question before us whether the market is a force for good or ill. Its power to generate wealth and expand freedom is unmatched, but this crisis has reminded us that without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of control — and that a nation cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous. The success of our economy has always depended not just on the size of our Gross Domestic Product, but on the reach of our prosperity; on our ability to extend opportunity to every willing heart — not out of charity, but because it is the surest route to our common good.
As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals. Our Founding Fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations. Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake. And so to all other peoples and governments who are watching today, from the grandest capitals to the small village where my father was born: know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman, and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and that we are ready to lead once more.
Recall that earlier generations faced down fascism and communism not just with missiles and tanks, but with sturdy alliances and enduring convictions. They understood that our power alone cannot protect us, nor does it entitle us to do as we please. Instead, they knew that our power grows through its prudent use; our security emanates from the justness of our cause, the force of our example, the tempering qualities of humility and restraint.
We are the keepers of this legacy. Guided by these principles once more, we can meet those new threats that demand even greater effort — even greater cooperation and understanding between nations. We will begin to responsibly leave Iraq to its people, and forge a hard-earned peace in Afghanistan. With old friends and former foes, we will work tirelessly to lessen the nuclear threat, and roll back the specter of a warming planet. We will not apologize for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defense, and for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken; you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you.
For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus — and non-believers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth; and because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation, and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace.
To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect. To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society's ills on the West — know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy. To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.
To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds. And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to suffering outside our borders; nor can we consume the world's resources without regard to effect. For the world has changed, and we must change with it.
As we consider the road that unfolds before us, we remember with humble gratitude those brave Americans who, at this very hour, patrol far-off deserts and distant mountains. They have something to tell us today, just as the fallen heroes who lie in Arlington whisper through the ages. We honor them not only because they are guardians of our liberty, but because they embody the spirit of service; a willingness to find meaning in something greater than themselves. And yet, at this moment — a moment that will define a generation — it is precisely this spirit that must inhabit us all.
For as much as government can do and must do, it is ultimately the faith and determination of the American people upon which this nation relies. It is the kindness to take in a stranger when the levees break, the selflessness of workers who would rather cut their hours than see a friend lose their job which sees us through our darkest hours. It is the firefighter's courage to storm a stairway filled with smoke, but also a parent's willingness to nurture a child, that finally decides our fate.
Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends — hard work and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism — these things are old. These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history. What is demanded then is a return to these truths. What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility — a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task.
This is the price and the promise of citizenship.
This is the source of our confidence— the knowledge that God calls on us to shape an uncertain destiny.
This is the meaning of our liberty and our creed — why men and women and children of every race and every faith can join in celebration across this magnificent mall, and why a man whose father less than sixty years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath.
So let us mark this day with remembrance, of who we are and how far we have traveled. In the year of America's birth, in the coldest of months, a small band of patriots huddled by dying campfires on the shores of an icy river. The capital was abandoned. The enemy was advancing. The snow was stained with blood. At a moment when the outcome of our revolution was most in doubt, the father of our nation ordered these words be read to the people:
"Let it be told to the future world...that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive ... that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet [it]."
America. In the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let us remember these timeless words. With hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come. Let it be said by our children's children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God's grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations.
“Palestine belongs to the Arabs in the same sense that England belongs to the English or France to the French...What is going on in Palestine today cannot be justified by any moral code of conduct...If they [the Jews] must look to the Palestine of geography as their national home, it is wrong to enter it under the shadow of the British gun. A religious act cannot be performed with the aid of the bayonet or the bomb. They can settle in Palestine only by the goodwill of the Arabs... As it is, they are co-sharers with the British in despoiling a people who have done no wrong to them. I am not defending the Arab excesses. I wish they had chosen the way of non-violence in resisting what they rightly regard as an unacceptable encroachment upon their country. But according to the accepted canons of right and wrong, nothing can be said against the Arab resistance in the face of overwhelming odds.” Mahatma Gandhi, quoted in “A Land of Two Peoples”
CHANGE HAS COME!!!
THIS IS YOUR VICTORY
CHICAGO, Illinois (CNN) -- Sen. Barack Obama spoke at a rally in Grant Park in Chicago, Illinois, after winning the race for the White House Tuesday night. The following is an exact transcript of his speech.
Obama:
Hello, Chicago.
If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible, who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time, who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.
It's the answer told by lines that stretched around schools and churches in numbers this nation has never seen, by people who waited three hours and four hours, many for the first time in their lives, because they believed that this time must be different, that their voices could be that difference.
It's the answer spoken by young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled. Americans who sent a message to the world that we have never been just a collection of individuals or a collection of red states and blue states.
We are, and always will be, the United States of America.
It's the answer that led those who've been told for so long by so many to be cynical and fearful and doubtful about what we can achieve to put their hands on the arc of history and bend it once more toward the hope of a better day. Watch Obama's speech in its entirety »
It's been a long time coming, but tonight, because of what we did on this date in this election at this defining moment change has come to America.
A little bit earlier this evening, I received an extraordinarily gracious call from Sen. McCain.
Sen. McCain fought long and hard in this campaign. And he's fought even longer and harder for the country that he loves. He has endured sacrifices for America that most of us cannot begin to imagine. We are better off for the service rendered by this brave and selfless leader.
I congratulate him; I congratulate Gov. Palin for all that they've achieved. And I look forward to working with them to renew this nation's promise in the months ahead.
I want to thank my partner in this journey, a man who campaigned from his heart, and spoke for the men and women he grew up with on the streets of Scranton and rode with on the train home to Delaware, the vice president-elect of the United States, Joe Biden.
And I would not be standing here tonight without the unyielding support of my best friend for the last 16 years the rock of our family, the love of my life, the nation's next first lady Michelle Obama.
Sasha and Malia I love you both more than you can imagine. And you have earned the new puppy that's coming with us to the new White House.
And while she's no longer with us, I know my grandmother's watching, along with the family that made me who I am. I miss them tonight. I know that my debt to them is beyond measure.
To my sister Maya, my sister Alma, all my other brothers and sisters, thank you so much for all the support that you've given me. I am grateful to them.
And to my campaign manager, David Plouffe, the unsung hero of this campaign, who built the best -- the best political campaign, I think, in the history of the United States of America.
To my chief strategist David Axelrod who's been a partner with me every step of the way.
To the best campaign team ever assembled in the history of politics you made this happen, and I am forever grateful for what you've sacrificed to get it done.
But above all, I will never forget who this victory truly belongs to. It belongs to you. It belongs to you.
I was never the likeliest candidate for this office. We didn't start with much money or many endorsements. Our campaign was not hatched in the halls of Washington. It began in the backyards of Des Moines and the living rooms of Concord and the front porches of Charleston. It was built by working men and women who dug into what little savings they had to give $5 and $10 and $20 to the cause.
It grew strength from the young people who rejected the myth of their generation's apathy who left their homes and their families for jobs that offered little pay and less sleep.
It drew strength from the not-so-young people who braved the bitter cold and scorching heat to knock on doors of perfect strangers, and from the millions of Americans who volunteered and organized and proved that more than two centuries later a government of the people, by the people, and for the people has not perished from the Earth.
This is your victory.
And I know you didn't do this just to win an election. And I know you didn't do it for me.
You did it because you understand the enormity of the task that lies ahead. For even as we celebrate tonight, we know the challenges that tomorrow will bring are the greatest of our lifetime -- two wars, a planet in peril, the worst financial crisis in a century.
Even as we stand here tonight, we know there are brave Americans waking up in the deserts of Iraq and the mountains of Afghanistan to risk their lives for us.
There are mothers and fathers who will lie awake after the children fall asleep and wonder how they'll make the mortgage or pay their doctors' bills or save enough for their child's college education.
There's new energy to harness, new jobs to be created, new schools to build, and threats to meet, alliances to repair.
The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even in one term. But, America, I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there.
I promise you, we as a people will get there.
There will be setbacks and false starts. There are many who won't agree with every decision or policy I make as president. And we know the government can't solve every problem.
But I will always be honest with you about the challenges we face. I will listen to you, especially when we disagree. And, above all, I will ask you to join in the work of remaking this nation, the only way it's been done in America for 221 years -- block by block, brick by brick, calloused hand by calloused hand.
What began 21 months ago in the depths of winter cannot end on this autumn night.
This victory alone is not the change we seek. It is only the chance for us to make that change. And that cannot happen if we go back to the way things were.
It can't happen without you, without a new spirit of service, a new spirit of sacrifice.
So let us summon a new spirit of patriotism, of responsibility, where each of us resolves to pitch in and work harder and look after not only ourselves but each other.
Let us remember that, if this financial crisis taught us anything, it's that we cannot have a thriving Wall Street while Main Street suffers.
In this country, we rise or fall as one nation, as one people. Let's resist the temptation to fall back on the same partisanship and pettiness and immaturity that has poisoned our politics for so long.
Let's remember that it was a man from this state who first carried the banner of the Republican Party to the White House, a party founded on the values of self-reliance and individual liberty and national unity.
Those are values that we all share. And while the Democratic Party has won a great victory tonight, we do so with a measure of humility and determination to heal the divides that have held back our progress.
As Lincoln said to a nation far more divided than ours, we are not enemies but friends. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection.
And to those Americans whose support I have yet to earn, I may not have won your vote tonight, but I hear your voices. I need your help. And I will be your president, too.
And to all those watching tonight from beyond our shores, from parliaments and palaces, to those who are huddled around radios in the forgotten corners of the world, our stories are singular, but our destiny is shared, and a new dawn of American leadership is at hand.
To those -- to those who would tear the world down: We will defeat you. To those who seek peace and security: We support you. And to all those who have wondered if America's beacon still burns as bright: Tonight we proved once more that the true strength of our nation comes not from the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals: democracy, liberty, opportunity and unyielding hope.
That's the true genius of America: that America can change. Our union can be perfected. What we've already achieved gives us hope for what we can and must achieve tomorrow.
This election had many firsts and many stories that will be told for generations. But one that's on my mind tonight's about a woman who cast her ballot in Atlanta. She's a lot like the millions of others who stood in line to make their voice heard in this election except for one thing: Ann Nixon Cooper is 106 years old.
She was born just a generation past slavery; a time when there were no cars on the road or planes in the sky; when someone like her couldn't vote for two reasons -- because she was a woman and because of the color of her skin.
And tonight, I think about all that she's seen throughout her century in America -- the heartache and the hope; the struggle and the progress; the times we were told that we can't, and the people who pressed on with that American creed: Yes we can.
At a time when women's voices were silenced and their hopes dismissed, she lived to see them stand up and speak out and reach for the ballot. Yes we can.
When there was despair in the dust bowl and depression across the land, she saw a nation conquer fear itself with a New Deal, new jobs, a new sense of common purpose. Yes we can.
When the bombs fell on our harbor and tyranny threatened the world, she was there to witness a generation rise to greatness and a democracy was saved. Yes we can.
She was there for the buses in Montgomery, the hoses in Birmingham, a bridge in Selma, and a preacher from Atlanta who told a people that "We Shall Overcome." Yes we can.
A man touched down on the moon, a wall came down in Berlin, a world was connected by our own science and imagination.
And this year, in this election, she touched her finger to a screen, and cast her vote, because after 106 years in America, through the best of times and the darkest of hours, she knows how America can change.
Yes we can.
America, we have come so far. We have seen so much. But there is so much more to do. So tonight, let us ask ourselves -- if our children should live to see the next century; if my daughters should be so lucky to live as long as Ann Nixon Cooper, what change will they see? What progress will we have made?
This is our chance to answer that call. This is our moment.
This is our time, to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity for our kids; to restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace; to reclaim the American dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth, that, out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope. And where we are met with cynicism and doubts and those who tell us that we can't, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people: Yes, we can.
Thank you. God bless you. And may God bless the United States of America.
WHY DRUIDS AND PAGANS DON'T CELEBRATE ST. PATRICK'S DAY
Patrick was a Christian priest whose job it was to convert the population of Ireland to Christianity. The Druids, however, stood in his way. The Druids were very important people in Ireland at that time, and their symbol was the Snake of Wisdom. Druids could be priests of the old religion of Ireland, but there were also much more.
One part of the Druid class were the "Bards", whose job it was to remember all of the history of the people, as well as to record current events. Because the Irish Celts did not rely on a written language, everything had to be memorized. Bards were poets and musicians, and used music and poetry to help them remember their history exactly. Because of this, Bards were highly respected members of the Irish society. The Irish believed that history was very important, for if you didn't remember what had happened in the past, you couldn't safely plan for the future. Bards, therefore, held the future of the people in safekeeping.
Another important part of the Druidic class were the "Brehons". Brehons were the Judges and the Keepers of the Laws. The Celtic people had a highly complicated society, and with it, a highly developed set of laws. Brehons trained for many years to learn the laws of the people, so that whenever there was a dispute, the Brehon could fairly decide the matter and make peace. The laws were there to make sure that everyone; man, woman, and child, were treated fairly and with respect. Because of the wisdom that the Brehons held, and the knowledge of the laws of the society, they too, like the Bards, were held with much respect.
And, of course, there were the Druid Priests. This branch of the Druid set were the keepers of the knowledge of Earth and Spirits. It was their responsibility to learn the Spirit World, in order to keep people and Earth in harmony. Priests performed marriages and "baptisms", they were healers, and psychiatrists. The Priests were the wise grandparents to whom you could go with a problem. They were there to help you solve them, with the help of the Earth and the Spirit World.
Into this world of the Irish Celts entered a highly energetic and devoted Christian Priest named Patrick. Because he believed so strongly in the tenets of Christianity, he thought that anyone who was not Christian had to become one in order to be "saved". He came to Ireland to convert the Irish people to Christianity.
The Irish people at that time were happy and doing quite well without Patrick and his ideas, but he was persistent. He noticed that the Druids were really the important people of the society. He thought that if he could convert the Druids to Christianity, the rest of the people would follow. Patrick's main problem was that the Druids were very comfortable with what they had already learned, and were not willing to change. Druids had spent their entire lives learning the ways of the people, and were the last people who were willing to change.
Although Patrick was not willing to abandon his vision of a Christian Ireland, he was getting desperate. He knew that because the strength of the people rested with the Druids, he had to get rid of them in order to get the people to listen to him.
Patrick was not alone in his efforts. He had brought many people with him from Britain to establish the new religion. Patrick began to destroy the influence of the Druids by destroying the sacred sites of the people and building churches and monasteries where the Druids used to live and teach. Gradually, the might of the Druidic class was broken by a bitter campaign of attrition. Instead of hearing the teachings and advice of the Druids, the people began to hear the teachings of Rome. Because the Druids were the only ones who were taught to remember the history, with the Druids dead and their influence broken, the history was forgotten.
Patrick won. By killing off the teachers and the wise ones, his own religion could be taught. For this mass conversion of a culture to Christianity, and for the killing of thousands of innocent people, Patrick was made a Saint by his church.
So while I love my Irish heritage and the culture I do not celebrate the murder of my ancestors or the man that murdered them.
PRO-AMERICAN, FAR LEFT-WING RADICAL ACTIVIST AND ENVIRONMENTALIST SINCE 1969
'TIME HAS COME TO REAFFIRM OUR ENDURING SPIRIT'
My fellow citizens:
I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors. I thank President Bush for his service to our nation, as well as the generosity and cooperation he has shown throughout this transition.
Forty-four Americans have now taken the presidential oath. The words have been spoken during rising tides of prosperity and the still waters of peace. Yet, every so often the oath is taken amidst gathering clouds and raging storms. At these moments, America has carried on not simply because of the skill or vision of those in high office, but because We the People have remained faithful to the ideals of our forbearers, and true to our founding documents.
So it has been. So it must be with this generation of Americans.
That we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood. Our nation is at war, against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred. Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age. Homes have been lost; jobs shed; businesses shuttered. Our health care is too costly; our schools fail too many; and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet.
These are the indicators of crisis, subject to data and statistics. Less measurable but no less profound is a sapping of confidence across our land — a nagging fear that America's decline is inevitable, and that the next generation must lower its sights.
Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America — they will be met.
On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.
On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics.
We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things. The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.
In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has never been one of short-cuts or settling for less. It has not been the path for the faint-hearted — for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame. Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things — some celebrated but more often men and women obscure in their labor, who have carried us up the long, rugged path towards prosperity and freedom.
For us, they packed up their few worldly possessions and traveled across oceans in search of a new life.
For us, they toiled in sweatshops and settled the West; endured the lash of the whip and plowed the hard earth.
For us, they fought and died, in places like Concord and Gettysburg; Normandy and Khe Sahn.
Time and again these men and women struggled and sacrificed and worked till their hands were raw so that we might live a better life. They saw America as bigger than the sum of our individual ambitions; greater than all the differences of birth or wealth or faction.
This is the journey we continue today. We remain the most prosperous, powerful nation on Earth. Our workers are no less productive than when this crisis began. Our minds are no less inventive, our goods and services no less needed than they were last week or last month or last year. Our capacity remains undiminished. But our time of standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions — that time has surely passed. Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.
For everywhere we look, there is work to be done. The state of the economy calls for action, bold and swift, and we will act — not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth. We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together. We will restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology's wonders to raise health care's quality and lower its cost. We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age. All this we can do. And all this we will do.
Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions — who suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans. Their memories are short. For they have forgotten what this country has already done; what free men and women can achieve when imagination is joined to common purpose, and necessity to courage.
What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them— that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer apply. The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works — whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified. Where the answer is yes, we intend to move forward. Where the answer is no, programs will end. And those of us who manage the public's dollars will be held to account — to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day — because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government.
Nor is the question before us whether the market is a force for good or ill. Its power to generate wealth and expand freedom is unmatched, but this crisis has reminded us that without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of control — and that a nation cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous. The success of our economy has always depended not just on the size of our Gross Domestic Product, but on the reach of our prosperity; on our ability to extend opportunity to every willing heart — not out of charity, but because it is the surest route to our common good.
As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals. Our Founding Fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations. Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake. And so to all other peoples and governments who are watching today, from the grandest capitals to the small village where my father was born: know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman, and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and that we are ready to lead once more.
Recall that earlier generations faced down fascism and communism not just with missiles and tanks, but with sturdy alliances and enduring convictions. They understood that our power alone cannot protect us, nor does it entitle us to do as we please. Instead, they knew that our power grows through its prudent use; our security emanates from the justness of our cause, the force of our example, the tempering qualities of humility and restraint.
We are the keepers of this legacy. Guided by these principles once more, we can meet those new threats that demand even greater effort — even greater cooperation and understanding between nations. We will begin to responsibly leave Iraq to its people, and forge a hard-earned peace in Afghanistan. With old friends and former foes, we will work tirelessly to lessen the nuclear threat, and roll back the specter of a warming planet. We will not apologize for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defense, and for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken; you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you.
For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus — and non-believers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth; and because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation, and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace.
To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect. To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society's ills on the West — know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy. To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.
To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds. And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to suffering outside our borders; nor can we consume the world's resources without regard to effect. For the world has changed, and we must change with it.
As we consider the road that unfolds before us, we remember with humble gratitude those brave Americans who, at this very hour, patrol far-off deserts and distant mountains. They have something to tell us today, just as the fallen heroes who lie in Arlington whisper through the ages. We honor them not only because they are guardians of our liberty, but because they embody the spirit of service; a willingness to find meaning in something greater than themselves. And yet, at this moment — a moment that will define a generation — it is precisely this spirit that must inhabit us all.
For as much as government can do and must do, it is ultimately the faith and determination of the American people upon which this nation relies. It is the kindness to take in a stranger when the levees break, the selflessness of workers who would rather cut their hours than see a friend lose their job which sees us through our darkest hours. It is the firefighter's courage to storm a stairway filled with smoke, but also a parent's willingness to nurture a child, that finally decides our fate.
Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends — hard work and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism — these things are old. These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history. What is demanded then is a return to these truths. What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility — a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task.
This is the price and the promise of citizenship.
This is the source of our confidence— the knowledge that God calls on us to shape an uncertain destiny.
This is the meaning of our liberty and our creed — why men and women and children of every race and every faith can join in celebration across this magnificent mall, and why a man whose father less than sixty years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath.
So let us mark this day with remembrance, of who we are and how far we have traveled. In the year of America's birth, in the coldest of months, a small band of patriots huddled by dying campfires on the shores of an icy river. The capital was abandoned. The enemy was advancing. The snow was stained with blood. At a moment when the outcome of our revolution was most in doubt, the father of our nation ordered these words be read to the people:
"Let it be told to the future world...that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive ... that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet [it]."
America. In the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let us remember these timeless words. With hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come. Let it be said by our children's children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God's grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations.
“Palestine belongs to the Arabs in the same sense that England belongs to the English or France to the French...What is going on in Palestine today cannot be justified by any moral code of conduct...If they [the Jews] must look to the Palestine of geography as their national home, it is wrong to enter it under the shadow of the British gun. A religious act cannot be performed with the aid of the bayonet or the bomb. They can settle in Palestine only by the goodwill of the Arabs... As it is, they are co-sharers with the British in despoiling a people who have done no wrong to them. I am not defending the Arab excesses. I wish they had chosen the way of non-violence in resisting what they rightly regard as an unacceptable encroachment upon their country. But according to the accepted canons of right and wrong, nothing can be said against the Arab resistance in the face of overwhelming odds.” Mahatma Gandhi, quoted in “A Land of Two Peoples”
CHANGE HAS COME!!!
THIS IS YOUR VICTORY
CHICAGO, Illinois (CNN) -- Sen. Barack Obama spoke at a rally in Grant Park in Chicago, Illinois, after winning the race for the White House Tuesday night. The following is an exact transcript of his speech.
Obama:
Hello, Chicago.
If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible, who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time, who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.
It's the answer told by lines that stretched around schools and churches in numbers this nation has never seen, by people who waited three hours and four hours, many for the first time in their lives, because they believed that this time must be different, that their voices could be that difference.
It's the answer spoken by young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled. Americans who sent a message to the world that we have never been just a collection of individuals or a collection of red states and blue states.
We are, and always will be, the United States of America.
It's the answer that led those who've been told for so long by so many to be cynical and fearful and doubtful about what we can achieve to put their hands on the arc of history and bend it once more toward the hope of a better day. Watch Obama's speech in its entirety »
It's been a long time coming, but tonight, because of what we did on this date in this election at this defining moment change has come to America.
A little bit earlier this evening, I received an extraordinarily gracious call from Sen. McCain.
Sen. McCain fought long and hard in this campaign. And he's fought even longer and harder for the country that he loves. He has endured sacrifices for America that most of us cannot begin to imagine. We are better off for the service rendered by this brave and selfless leader.
I congratulate him; I congratulate Gov. Palin for all that they've achieved. And I look forward to working with them to renew this nation's promise in the months ahead.
I want to thank my partner in this journey, a man who campaigned from his heart, and spoke for the men and women he grew up with on the streets of Scranton and rode with on the train home to Delaware, the vice president-elect of the United States, Joe Biden.
And I would not be standing here tonight without the unyielding support of my best friend for the last 16 years the rock of our family, the love of my life, the nation's next first lady Michelle Obama.
Sasha and Malia I love you both more than you can imagine. And you have earned the new puppy that's coming with us to the new White House.
And while she's no longer with us, I know my grandmother's watching, along with the family that made me who I am. I miss them tonight. I know that my debt to them is beyond measure.
To my sister Maya, my sister Alma, all my other brothers and sisters, thank you so much for all the support that you've given me. I am grateful to them.
And to my campaign manager, David Plouffe, the unsung hero of this campaign, who built the best -- the best political campaign, I think, in the history of the United States of America.
To my chief strategist David Axelrod who's been a partner with me every step of the way.
To the best campaign team ever assembled in the history of politics you made this happen, and I am forever grateful for what you've sacrificed to get it done.
But above all, I will never forget who this victory truly belongs to. It belongs to you. It belongs to you.
I was never the likeliest candidate for this office. We didn't start with much money or many endorsements. Our campaign was not hatched in the halls of Washington. It began in the backyards of Des Moines and the living rooms of Concord and the front porches of Charleston. It was built by working men and women who dug into what little savings they had to give $5 and $10 and $20 to the cause.
It grew strength from the young people who rejected the myth of their generation's apathy who left their homes and their families for jobs that offered little pay and less sleep.
It drew strength from the not-so-young people who braved the bitter cold and scorching heat to knock on doors of perfect strangers, and from the millions of Americans who volunteered and organized and proved that more than two centuries later a government of the people, by the people, and for the people has not perished from the Earth.
This is your victory.
And I know you didn't do this just to win an election. And I know you didn't do it for me.
You did it because you understand the enormity of the task that lies ahead. For even as we celebrate tonight, we know the challenges that tomorrow will bring are the greatest of our lifetime -- two wars, a planet in peril, the worst financial crisis in a century.
Even as we stand here tonight, we know there are brave Americans waking up in the deserts of Iraq and the mountains of Afghanistan to risk their lives for us.
There are mothers and fathers who will lie awake after the children fall asleep and wonder how they'll make the mortgage or pay their doctors' bills or save enough for their child's college education.
There's new energy to harness, new jobs to be created, new schools to build, and threats to meet, alliances to repair.
The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even in one term. But, America, I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there.
I promise you, we as a people will get there.
There will be setbacks and false starts. There are many who won't agree with every decision or policy I make as president. And we know the government can't solve every problem.
But I will always be honest with you about the challenges we face. I will listen to you, especially when we disagree. And, above all, I will ask you to join in the work of remaking this nation, the only way it's been done in America for 221 years -- block by block, brick by brick, calloused hand by calloused hand.
What began 21 months ago in the depths of winter cannot end on this autumn night.
This victory alone is not the change we seek. It is only the chance for us to make that change. And that cannot happen if we go back to the way things were.
It can't happen without you, without a new spirit of service, a new spirit of sacrifice.
So let us summon a new spirit of patriotism, of responsibility, where each of us resolves to pitch in and work harder and look after not only ourselves but each other.
Let us remember that, if this financial crisis taught us anything, it's that we cannot have a thriving Wall Street while Main Street suffers.
In this country, we rise or fall as one nation, as one people. Let's resist the temptation to fall back on the same partisanship and pettiness and immaturity that has poisoned our politics for so long.
Let's remember that it was a man from this state who first carried the banner of the Republican Party to the White House, a party founded on the values of self-reliance and individual liberty and national unity.
Those are values that we all share. And while the Democratic Party has won a great victory tonight, we do so with a measure of humility and determination to heal the divides that have held back our progress.
As Lincoln said to a nation far more divided than ours, we are not enemies but friends. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection.
And to those Americans whose support I have yet to earn, I may not have won your vote tonight, but I hear your voices. I need your help. And I will be your president, too.
And to all those watching tonight from beyond our shores, from parliaments and palaces, to those who are huddled around radios in the forgotten corners of the world, our stories are singular, but our destiny is shared, and a new dawn of American leadership is at hand.
To those -- to those who would tear the world down: We will defeat you. To those who seek peace and security: We support you. And to all those who have wondered if America's beacon still burns as bright: Tonight we proved once more that the true strength of our nation comes not from the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals: democracy, liberty, opportunity and unyielding hope.
That's the true genius of America: that America can change. Our union can be perfected. What we've already achieved gives us hope for what we can and must achieve tomorrow.
This election had many firsts and many stories that will be told for generations. But one that's on my mind tonight's about a woman who cast her ballot in Atlanta. She's a lot like the millions of others who stood in line to make their voice heard in this election except for one thing: Ann Nixon Cooper is 106 years old.
She was born just a generation past slavery; a time when there were no cars on the road or planes in the sky; when someone like her couldn't vote for two reasons -- because she was a woman and because of the color of her skin.
And tonight, I think about all that she's seen throughout her century in America -- the heartache and the hope; the struggle and the progress; the times we were told that we can't, and the people who pressed on with that American creed: Yes we can.
At a time when women's voices were silenced and their hopes dismissed, she lived to see them stand up and speak out and reach for the ballot. Yes we can.
When there was despair in the dust bowl and depression across the land, she saw a nation conquer fear itself with a New Deal, new jobs, a new sense of common purpose. Yes we can.
When the bombs fell on our harbor and tyranny threatened the world, she was there to witness a generation rise to greatness and a democracy was saved. Yes we can.
She was there for the buses in Montgomery, the hoses in Birmingham, a bridge in Selma, and a preacher from Atlanta who told a people that "We Shall Overcome." Yes we can.
A man touched down on the moon, a wall came down in Berlin, a world was connected by our own science and imagination.
And this year, in this election, she touched her finger to a screen, and cast her vote, because after 106 years in America, through the best of times and the darkest of hours, she knows how America can change.
Yes we can.
America, we have come so far. We have seen so much. But there is so much more to do. So tonight, let us ask ourselves -- if our children should live to see the next century; if my daughters should be so lucky to live as long as Ann Nixon Cooper, what change will they see? What progress will we have made?
This is our chance to answer that call. This is our moment.
This is our time, to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity for our kids; to restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace; to reclaim the American dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth, that, out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope. And where we are met with cynicism and doubts and those who tell us that we can't, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people: Yes, we can.
Thank you. God bless you. And may God bless the United States of America.
BOBBY KENNEDY
The death of Robert Kennedy was the death of a dream for a different America through political change for many young people. I am convinced that this would be a different country if he had lived.
"Each time a man stands for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.” ~ Robert F. Kennedy
OBAMA RALLY - FORT COLLINS, CO OCTOBER 26,2008
The death of Robert Kennedy was the death of a dream for a different America through political change for many young people. I am convinced that this would be a different country if he had lived.
"Each time a man stands for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.” ~ Robert F. Kennedy
OBAMA RALLY - FORT COLLINS, CO OCTOBER 26,2008
Obama-Biden 2008! Time for progress and change.
SAVING THE ENVIRONMENT!... FIGHTING FOR ANIMAL RIGHTS... AND FIGHTING FOR HUMAN RIGHTS.
Palin loses bid to block beluga whale protection
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/2...
Federal government declares population off Anchorage 'endangered'
All beluga whales in U.S. waters are in five distinct populations off Alaska. One of those, the Cook Inlet population, has been declared endangered after failing to recover despite earlier protections.
WASHINGTON - The federal government on Friday determined that a species of beluga whale native to an inlet off Anchorage, Alaska, is endangered and will require additional protection to survive.
The finding could even have presidential implications: Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, Sen. John McCain's running mate, had questioned scientific evidence that the population was declining.
"In spite of protections already in place, Cook Inlet beluga whales are not recovering," James Balsiger, assistant administrator for the National Marine Fisheries Service, said in a statement.
The population declined nearly 50 percent between 1994 and 1998, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which runs the fisheries service.
"NOAA scientists estimated the Cook Inlet beluga population at 375 for both 2007 and 2008," NOAA stated. "Estimates have varied from a high of 653 belugas in 1994 to a low of 278 belugas in 2005."
Acting on a 2006 request for listing by the Center for Biological Diversity and several allies, NOAA in April 2007 proposed that the population be listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act. Friday's action represents the final determination to list the Cook Inlet belugas.
"Despite restrictions on Alaskan Native subsistence harvest of Cook Inlet belugas starting in 1999, the population is still not recovering," NOAA added. "Between 1999 and 2006, Alaska Native hunters took a total of five Cook Inlet beluga whales for subsistence. No beluga whales were harvested in 2007 or 2008."
Cook Inlet belugas are one of five beluga populations in U.S. waters. The others, all off Alaska, inhabit Bristol Bay, the eastern Bering Sea, the eastern Chukchi Sea, and the Beaufort Sea.
"The Cook Inlet population is considered to be the most isolated, based on the degree of genetic differentiation and geographic distance between the Cook Inlet population and the four other beluga stocks," NOAA said.
Other potential obstacles to recovery, NOAA said, include:
* Beach strandings of beluga whales;
* Continued development within and along upper Cook Inlet and the cumulative effects on important beluga habitat;
* Oil and gas exploration, development, and production;
* Industrial activities that discharge or accidentally spill pollutants;
* Disease;
* Predation by killer whales.
NOAA said that within a year it would identify habitat essential to protecting the belugas.
Palin had opposed the endangered listing — as well as one decreed for polar bears due to melting summer sea ice — in part by questioning the science and saying the listings would hinder oil and natural gas drilling.
AERIAL HUNTING OF WOLVES AND BEARS
Governor Palin is an active promoter of Alaska's aerial hunting program whereby wolves and bears are shot from the air or chased by airplanes to the point of exhaustion before the pilot lands the plane and a gunner shoots the animals point blank.
Palin offered a $150 bounty for wolves to entice hunters to kill more wolves in certain parts of the state, with hunters having to present a wolf's foreleg to collect the bounty.
She actively opposed a ballot measure campaign seeking to end the aerial hunting of wolves by private hunters and approved a $400,000 state-funded campaign aimed at swaying people's votes on the issue.
She also introduced legislation to make it easier to kill wolves and bears and which would have also removed the aerial hunting initiative from the ballot and block the ability of citizens to vote on the issue.
The Board of Game, which she appoints, has approved the killing of black bear sows with cubs as part of the program and expanded the aerial control programs.
The media is currently looking into reports that state officials implementing one of the aerial wolf killing programs illegally killed five-week old wolf pups just outside their dens.
Another Palin Falsehood...
"...this is about feeding Alaskans"--Palin spokesperson
If that's true Governor Palin...
Why are sport hunter groups the biggest advocates of aerial hunting as opposed to advocates for the poor or hungry?
Why does the Palin administration allow out of state hunters to hunt and directly compete with rural hunters for supposed limited resources in most of the areas where aerial hunting is done?
Why, in most of the areas where aerial hunting is done, are a majority of the moose taken by urban and non-resident hunters instead of true subsistence hunters?
Why does Palin oppose what is called “rural preference” which would give true rural subsistence hunters priority access over sport hunters to the areas where aerial hunting is conducted?
Why did she file an appeal in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to block the Cheesh-na Tribal Council from expanding their subsistence hunting in key areas?
Aerial hunting is done by private citizens flown by private pilots in private planes. They get to keep and sell the skins of the wolves they kill. Some even pose for traditional hunting trophy shots.
That's sport hunting by anyone's definition.
SAVING THE ENVIRONMENT!... FIGHTING FOR ANIMAL RIGHTS... AND FIGHTING FOR HUMAN RIGHTS.
Palin loses bid to block beluga whale protection
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/2...
Federal government declares population off Anchorage 'endangered'
All beluga whales in U.S. waters are in five distinct populations off Alaska. One of those, the Cook Inlet population, has been declared endangered after failing to recover despite earlier protections.
WASHINGTON - The federal government on Friday determined that a species of beluga whale native to an inlet off Anchorage, Alaska, is endangered and will require additional protection to survive.
The finding could even have presidential implications: Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, Sen. John McCain's running mate, had questioned scientific evidence that the population was declining.
"In spite of protections already in place, Cook Inlet beluga whales are not recovering," James Balsiger, assistant administrator for the National Marine Fisheries Service, said in a statement.
The population declined nearly 50 percent between 1994 and 1998, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which runs the fisheries service.
"NOAA scientists estimated the Cook Inlet beluga population at 375 for both 2007 and 2008," NOAA stated. "Estimates have varied from a high of 653 belugas in 1994 to a low of 278 belugas in 2005."
Acting on a 2006 request for listing by the Center for Biological Diversity and several allies, NOAA in April 2007 proposed that the population be listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act. Friday's action represents the final determination to list the Cook Inlet belugas.
"Despite restrictions on Alaskan Native subsistence harvest of Cook Inlet belugas starting in 1999, the population is still not recovering," NOAA added. "Between 1999 and 2006, Alaska Native hunters took a total of five Cook Inlet beluga whales for subsistence. No beluga whales were harvested in 2007 or 2008."
Cook Inlet belugas are one of five beluga populations in U.S. waters. The others, all off Alaska, inhabit Bristol Bay, the eastern Bering Sea, the eastern Chukchi Sea, and the Beaufort Sea.
"The Cook Inlet population is considered to be the most isolated, based on the degree of genetic differentiation and geographic distance between the Cook Inlet population and the four other beluga stocks," NOAA said.
Other potential obstacles to recovery, NOAA said, include:
* Beach strandings of beluga whales;
* Continued development within and along upper Cook Inlet and the cumulative effects on important beluga habitat;
* Oil and gas exploration, development, and production;
* Industrial activities that discharge or accidentally spill pollutants;
* Disease;
* Predation by killer whales.
NOAA said that within a year it would identify habitat essential to protecting the belugas.
Palin had opposed the endangered listing — as well as one decreed for polar bears due to melting summer sea ice — in part by questioning the science and saying the listings would hinder oil and natural gas drilling.
AERIAL HUNTING OF WOLVES AND BEARS
Governor Palin is an active promoter of Alaska's aerial hunting program whereby wolves and bears are shot from the air or chased by airplanes to the point of exhaustion before the pilot lands the plane and a gunner shoots the animals point blank.
Palin offered a $150 bounty for wolves to entice hunters to kill more wolves in certain parts of the state, with hunters having to present a wolf's foreleg to collect the bounty.
She actively opposed a ballot measure campaign seeking to end the aerial hunting of wolves by private hunters and approved a $400,000 state-funded campaign aimed at swaying people's votes on the issue.
She also introduced legislation to make it easier to kill wolves and bears and which would have also removed the aerial hunting initiative from the ballot and block the ability of citizens to vote on the issue.
The Board of Game, which she appoints, has approved the killing of black bear sows with cubs as part of the program and expanded the aerial control programs.
The media is currently looking into reports that state officials implementing one of the aerial wolf killing programs illegally killed five-week old wolf pups just outside their dens.
Another Palin Falsehood...
"...this is about feeding Alaskans"--Palin spokesperson
If that's true Governor Palin...
Why are sport hunter groups the biggest advocates of aerial hunting as opposed to advocates for the poor or hungry?
Why does the Palin administration allow out of state hunters to hunt and directly compete with rural hunters for supposed limited resources in most of the areas where aerial hunting is done?
Why, in most of the areas where aerial hunting is done, are a majority of the moose taken by urban and non-resident hunters instead of true subsistence hunters?
Why does Palin oppose what is called “rural preference” which would give true rural subsistence hunters priority access over sport hunters to the areas where aerial hunting is conducted?
Why did she file an appeal in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to block the Cheesh-na Tribal Council from expanding their subsistence hunting in key areas?
Aerial hunting is done by private citizens flown by private pilots in private planes. They get to keep and sell the skins of the wolves they kill. Some even pose for traditional hunting trophy shots.
That's sport hunting by anyone's definition.
Peace...anti-war...the environment, human rights, civil rights....with a particular interest in gay rights, women's rights, and rights of the Native American and Palestinian peoples.
AROUND THE WORLD - PRAISE FOR OBAMA
By Kevin Sullivan
Washington Post Foreign Service
Wednesday, November 5, 2008; 8:56 AM
LONDON, Nov. 5 -- Through tears and whoops of joy, in celebrations that spilled into streets on distant continents, people around the globe called Barack Obama's election a victory for the world and a renewal of America's ability to inspire.
By electing a youthful African American with chestnut-colored skin, the United States has chosen a man whose face seems familiar and comforting in most of the world.
From Paris to New Delhi to the beaches of Brazil, revelers said Obama's election made them feel more connected to America, and that America, after years of strained relations, seemed suddenly more connected to the world.
"As a black British woman, I can't believe that America has voted in a black president," said Jackie Humphries, 49, a librarian who partied with 1,500 people at the U.S. embassy in London Tuesday night.
"It makes me feel like there is a future that includes all of us," she said, wrapping her arm around a life-size cardboard likeness of the new U.S. president-elect.
"Americans overcame the racial divide and elected Obama because they wanted the real thing: A candidate who spoke from the bottom of his heart," said Terumi Hino, a photographer and painter in Tokyo. "I think this means the United States can go back to being admired as the country of dreams."
Kenya, where Obama's father was raised as a goat-herder, declared Thursday a national holiday, and people danced in the streets wrapped in the American flag in Obama's ancestral village of Kogelo.
In South Africa, Nelson Mandela, the civil rights icon who helped bring down his country's apartheid regime, released a letter to Obama that said, "Your victory has demonstrated that no person anywhere in the world should not dare to dream of wanting to change the world for a better place."
Desmond Tutu, another iconic anti-apartheid leader and the retired Anglican archbishop of Cape Town, said Obama's victory tells "people of color that for them, the sky is the limit."
"We have a new spring in our walk and our shoulders are straighter," Tutu said, echoing a commonly held sentiment across the continent.
The world sees Obama as more than a racial standard-bearer, of course, and many praised Obama for his policies on everything from Iraq to health care, which are known to the world in remarkable detail.
Even in the more distant corners of the globe, large audiences followed the presidential election as never before, and television viewers and radio listeners worldwide heard Obama's acceptance speech and the concession by Republican Sen. John McCain.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown congratulated Obama for "energizing politics with his progressive values and his vision for the future."
Amadou Toure, the president of the West African nation of Mali, told French radio, "The United States has given a lesson, a lesson in maturity and a lesson in democracy. The essential considerations that prevailed were really the considerations of a man who had a program."
In China some people interviewed worried about Obama's positions on the delicate issues of Tibet and Taiwan. Some Indians and Egyptians said they had questions about Obama's views on Pakistan and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Russian President Dmitri Medvedev congratulated Obama and said he hoped the two would have a constructive dialogue -- even as he reminded in a separate speech of issues like the financial crisis and the recent war in Georgia have strained the relationship.
Many people, in dozens of interviews around the world Tuesday night and Wednesday, also said they understood that any new president could not immediately change the United States or the world.
But many said Obama's election was a powerful signal that the United States intended to change direction.
"For the first time I feel the phrase, 'I hereby declare that all men are crated equal,' from the U.S. Declaration of Independence, really came to life for me today," said architect Mamdouh al-Sobaihi, a guest at a post-election reception Wednesday in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. "U.S. history has returned to its roots. The forefathers would be very pleased with today's election," he said.
"Today the United States said, not 'We want change,' but, 'We have changed.' America's message to the rest of the world is that we have changed."
Saudi journalist Samir Saadi said that Obama's election means "the U.S. has won the war on terror."
"Given Obama's name, his background, the doubts about his religion, Americans still voted for him and this proved that America is a democracy," he said. "People here are starting to believe in the U.S. again."
For many, Obama's election came with an almost visceral sense of relief that it signaled the beginning of the end for the administration of President Bush, who has become extremely unpopular in much of the world.
A recent BBC poll found that people in all 22 nations the network surveyed preferred Obama by a wide margin to McCain, who was widely identified with Bush and the Republican Party.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, a combative foe of Bush, congratulated Obama on his "historic election of a descendant of Africans" and called for "new relations" between the two nations.
In Russia, Ilya Utekhin, an anthropologist at the European University in St. Petersburg, said Obama's election has given the United States "a historic chance for large-scale re-branding of the image of the United States."
"An African American president appears to have more sensitivity to the cross-cultural diversity of the world, and this is a promise of a more creative and flexible foreign policy," he said.
Viktor Yerofeyev, a prominent Russian novelist, said he believed Obama's election marked the start of a new era for the world.
"The choice of an African American president in the United States overturns the whole idea of the stiff and conservative America," Yerofeyev said. "This means that America did wake up. This means that America is again open for free and democratic values. America has once again become a good model to emulate. It has again become a great country."
"It is almost impossible to overstate the impact of this vote on the rest of the world," said Joichi Ito, a globetrotting Internet entrepreneur and prominent blogger who is based in Tokyo.
"The United States looked closed, stupid, xenophobic and aggressive" under Bush," Ito said. "By electing Obama, it looks open, diversity embracing, humble and intelligent."
"This vote is the best thing that could have happened to restore American influence," Ito said. "By choosing a black man as president, Americans showed the world they are ready for change."
But the overwhelming reaction to Obama's election among those interviewed was not about his policies. It was delight that America had produced, on a grand global scale, inspiring and overdue proof that they could still believe in the American Dream -- something many had come to doubt.
In Brazil, where polls have shown Obama far more popular than McCain, many people compared Obama to Brazil's popular president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, a former shoe shiner and union leader.
"Obama is something new, something different," said Elizabeth Soares, a lawyer from Rio de Janeiro. "The way Obama expresses himself, his charisma, the way he speaks, reminds people of a Brazilian and makes them like him more."
"This is a country which has habitually, sometimes irritatingly, regarded itself as young and vibrant, the envy of the world," veteran BBC foreign correspondent John Simpson wrote on the network's website. "Often this is merely hype. But there are times when it is entirely true. With Barack Obama's victory, one of these moments has arrived."
David Lammy, a black British Member of Parliament who has known Obama for several years, said "America is a country that has been marked by race."
"Many people in the world recall the 1960s, and children read about segregation and slavery. American has just taken a historic step, and moved that story in a tremendous way. Prejudice and discrimination has not won out over character, ideas, and vision."
"Now black and white can raise their shoulders high and can turn a page on issues of inequality," he said, marveling at the "amazing image" of a black family living in the White House.
In Germany, Benjamin Becker, 25, who studies English and history in Cologne, flew to Berlin for an election-eve party celebrating Obama's victory -- which he said would brighten global perceptions of the United States.
Becker, who spent a year in Atlanta on a Fulbright scholarship, said he had been "saddened" by America's diminished standing in the world in recent years.
"I remember 10 years ago when the United States was my absolute dreamland," Becker said. "Now I still am partial to the U.S., but the Bush years were detrimental for the country. I hope it will be much different now."
Newspaper headlines around the world portrayed Obama's election in soaring language. "One Giant Leap for Mankind," said the Sun newspaper in London, which dumped its usual topless Page 3 girl in favor of a photo of Obama voting. Said the Times of London, which devoted its entire front page to a photo of Obama smiling before an American flag: "The New World."
"Senator Obama's message of hope is not just for America's future, it is also a message of hope for the world as well," said Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.
"Barack Obama's remarkable personal story - allied to his eloquence and his huge political talents - sends a powerful message of hope to America's friends across the world," said Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen, who invited Obama to visit Ireland, where he has ancestral roots.
"On this day, we are all reminded of those who struggled for civil rights in America for so many years, as well as all of those who work for justice and peace around the world today," Cowen said. "At a time of immense global challenges, today is a day of hope for the world."
In Afghanistan, where Obama will confront one of his first challenges in office, President Hamid Karzai praised Obama's election as a "great decision."
"I hope that this new administration in the United States of America, and the fact of the massive show of concern for human beings and lack of interest in race and color while electing the president, will go a long way in bringing the same values to the rest of world sooner or later," Karzai said.
In Ukraine, where Obama will confront a region where Russia is playing an increasingly assertive role, Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko called Obama's victory "an inspiration for us. That which appeared impossible has become possible."
In India, political representatives of the country's lowest caste, known as Dalits or "untouchables," said they viewed Obama's victory as an example for their own struggle for equal rights.
"This is America's second revolution and Obama's victory will boost the esteem of the underprivileged social classes and ethnic groups the world over," said Chandra Bhan Prasad, a prominent Dalit author. "India's rigid caste society will come under terrific moral pressure to integrate Dalits even more."
In Iran, strained relations with the United States colored many people's perceptions of Obama's victory.
"If America can do away with its prejudice, maybe they will also stop thinking that all Iranians are terrorists," said Elam Moghaddam, a housewife shopping for shrimp in Tehran. "I hope that Iran and the United States will make diplomatic relations, now that Obama became president."
Mohammad Ali Abtahi, a former Iranian vice-president and opponent of current president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, said he feared Obama would be under "lots of pressure" to take a hard line against the Islamic world because of his Muslim roots.
"I hope he won't feel compelled to put more pressure on the Islamic world to compensate the fact that his middle name is Hussein," he said. "I congratulate the American people with this choice."
Praise for the election of an African American also came from an unusual source: Abbas Abdi, one of the organizers of the 1979 hostage-taking of American diplomats at the U.S. embassy.
"It is hard to imagine that blacks fifty years ago in some states had to sit in the backseats in public transportation," he said. "Now one of them, a member from a minority, is president."
Many in China seemed baffled about the possibility of a black president, largely because they seem to know little about American blacks beyond the official state media's emphasis on stories about U.S. discrimination against them.
"Most of Chinese don't have any contact with black people in their daily life," said Yuan Yue, founder of Horizon Research, which conducted a recent poll that found that among Chinese voters with a preference, Obama was leading McCain 33 percent to 15 percent.
"Many Chinese have good feelings about the U.S. democratic system," he said. "And this result gives Chinese a more direct understanding about American democracy. It sends the message that everyone has a chance. If you raise the right issues, even if you are black, you can win. This is the most attractive part of American democracy."
Still, for some in China the Obama glass remained half-full.
AROUND THE WORLD - PRAISE FOR OBAMA
By Kevin Sullivan
Washington Post Foreign Service
Wednesday, November 5, 2008; 8:56 AM
LONDON, Nov. 5 -- Through tears and whoops of joy, in celebrations that spilled into streets on distant continents, people around the globe called Barack Obama's election a victory for the world and a renewal of America's ability to inspire.
By electing a youthful African American with chestnut-colored skin, the United States has chosen a man whose face seems familiar and comforting in most of the world.
From Paris to New Delhi to the beaches of Brazil, revelers said Obama's election made them feel more connected to America, and that America, after years of strained relations, seemed suddenly more connected to the world.
"As a black British woman, I can't believe that America has voted in a black president," said Jackie Humphries, 49, a librarian who partied with 1,500 people at the U.S. embassy in London Tuesday night.
"It makes me feel like there is a future that includes all of us," she said, wrapping her arm around a life-size cardboard likeness of the new U.S. president-elect.
"Americans overcame the racial divide and elected Obama because they wanted the real thing: A candidate who spoke from the bottom of his heart," said Terumi Hino, a photographer and painter in Tokyo. "I think this means the United States can go back to being admired as the country of dreams."
Kenya, where Obama's father was raised as a goat-herder, declared Thursday a national holiday, and people danced in the streets wrapped in the American flag in Obama's ancestral village of Kogelo.
In South Africa, Nelson Mandela, the civil rights icon who helped bring down his country's apartheid regime, released a letter to Obama that said, "Your victory has demonstrated that no person anywhere in the world should not dare to dream of wanting to change the world for a better place."
Desmond Tutu, another iconic anti-apartheid leader and the retired Anglican archbishop of Cape Town, said Obama's victory tells "people of color that for them, the sky is the limit."
"We have a new spring in our walk and our shoulders are straighter," Tutu said, echoing a commonly held sentiment across the continent.
The world sees Obama as more than a racial standard-bearer, of course, and many praised Obama for his policies on everything from Iraq to health care, which are known to the world in remarkable detail.
Even in the more distant corners of the globe, large audiences followed the presidential election as never before, and television viewers and radio listeners worldwide heard Obama's acceptance speech and the concession by Republican Sen. John McCain.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown congratulated Obama for "energizing politics with his progressive values and his vision for the future."
Amadou Toure, the president of the West African nation of Mali, told French radio, "The United States has given a lesson, a lesson in maturity and a lesson in democracy. The essential considerations that prevailed were really the considerations of a man who had a program."
In China some people interviewed worried about Obama's positions on the delicate issues of Tibet and Taiwan. Some Indians and Egyptians said they had questions about Obama's views on Pakistan and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Russian President Dmitri Medvedev congratulated Obama and said he hoped the two would have a constructive dialogue -- even as he reminded in a separate speech of issues like the financial crisis and the recent war in Georgia have strained the relationship.
Many people, in dozens of interviews around the world Tuesday night and Wednesday, also said they understood that any new president could not immediately change the United States or the world.
But many said Obama's election was a powerful signal that the United States intended to change direction.
"For the first time I feel the phrase, 'I hereby declare that all men are crated equal,' from the U.S. Declaration of Independence, really came to life for me today," said architect Mamdouh al-Sobaihi, a guest at a post-election reception Wednesday in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. "U.S. history has returned to its roots. The forefathers would be very pleased with today's election," he said.
"Today the United States said, not 'We want change,' but, 'We have changed.' America's message to the rest of the world is that we have changed."
Saudi journalist Samir Saadi said that Obama's election means "the U.S. has won the war on terror."
"Given Obama's name, his background, the doubts about his religion, Americans still voted for him and this proved that America is a democracy," he said. "People here are starting to believe in the U.S. again."
For many, Obama's election came with an almost visceral sense of relief that it signaled the beginning of the end for the administration of President Bush, who has become extremely unpopular in much of the world.
A recent BBC poll found that people in all 22 nations the network surveyed preferred Obama by a wide margin to McCain, who was widely identified with Bush and the Republican Party.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, a combative foe of Bush, congratulated Obama on his "historic election of a descendant of Africans" and called for "new relations" between the two nations.
In Russia, Ilya Utekhin, an anthropologist at the European University in St. Petersburg, said Obama's election has given the United States "a historic chance for large-scale re-branding of the image of the United States."
"An African American president appears to have more sensitivity to the cross-cultural diversity of the world, and this is a promise of a more creative and flexible foreign policy," he said.
Viktor Yerofeyev, a prominent Russian novelist, said he believed Obama's election marked the start of a new era for the world.
"The choice of an African American president in the United States overturns the whole idea of the stiff and conservative America," Yerofeyev said. "This means that America did wake up. This means that America is again open for free and democratic values. America has once again become a good model to emulate. It has again become a great country."
"It is almost impossible to overstate the impact of this vote on the rest of the world," said Joichi Ito, a globetrotting Internet entrepreneur and prominent blogger who is based in Tokyo.
"The United States looked closed, stupid, xenophobic and aggressive" under Bush," Ito said. "By electing Obama, it looks open, diversity embracing, humble and intelligent."
"This vote is the best thing that could have happened to restore American influence," Ito said. "By choosing a black man as president, Americans showed the world they are ready for change."
But the overwhelming reaction to Obama's election among those interviewed was not about his policies. It was delight that America had produced, on a grand global scale, inspiring and overdue proof that they could still believe in the American Dream -- something many had come to doubt.
In Brazil, where polls have shown Obama far more popular than McCain, many people compared Obama to Brazil's popular president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, a former shoe shiner and union leader.
"Obama is something new, something different," said Elizabeth Soares, a lawyer from Rio de Janeiro. "The way Obama expresses himself, his charisma, the way he speaks, reminds people of a Brazilian and makes them like him more."
"This is a country which has habitually, sometimes irritatingly, regarded itself as young and vibrant, the envy of the world," veteran BBC foreign correspondent John Simpson wrote on the network's website. "Often this is merely hype. But there are times when it is entirely true. With Barack Obama's victory, one of these moments has arrived."
David Lammy, a black British Member of Parliament who has known Obama for several years, said "America is a country that has been marked by race."
"Many people in the world recall the 1960s, and children read about segregation and slavery. American has just taken a historic step, and moved that story in a tremendous way. Prejudice and discrimination has not won out over character, ideas, and vision."
"Now black and white can raise their shoulders high and can turn a page on issues of inequality," he said, marveling at the "amazing image" of a black family living in the White House.
In Germany, Benjamin Becker, 25, who studies English and history in Cologne, flew to Berlin for an election-eve party celebrating Obama's victory -- which he said would brighten global perceptions of the United States.
Becker, who spent a year in Atlanta on a Fulbright scholarship, said he had been "saddened" by America's diminished standing in the world in recent years.
"I remember 10 years ago when the United States was my absolute dreamland," Becker said. "Now I still am partial to the U.S., but the Bush years were detrimental for the country. I hope it will be much different now."
Newspaper headlines around the world portrayed Obama's election in soaring language. "One Giant Leap for Mankind," said the Sun newspaper in London, which dumped its usual topless Page 3 girl in favor of a photo of Obama voting. Said the Times of London, which devoted its entire front page to a photo of Obama smiling before an American flag: "The New World."
"Senator Obama's message of hope is not just for America's future, it is also a message of hope for the world as well," said Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.
"Barack Obama's remarkable personal story - allied to his eloquence and his huge political talents - sends a powerful message of hope to America's friends across the world," said Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen, who invited Obama to visit Ireland, where he has ancestral roots.
"On this day, we are all reminded of those who struggled for civil rights in America for so many years, as well as all of those who work for justice and peace around the world today," Cowen said. "At a time of immense global challenges, today is a day of hope for the world."
In Afghanistan, where Obama will confront one of his first challenges in office, President Hamid Karzai praised Obama's election as a "great decision."
"I hope that this new administration in the United States of America, and the fact of the massive show of concern for human beings and lack of interest in race and color while electing the president, will go a long way in bringing the same values to the rest of world sooner or later," Karzai said.
In Ukraine, where Obama will confront a region where Russia is playing an increasingly assertive role, Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko called Obama's victory "an inspiration for us. That which appeared impossible has become possible."
In India, political representatives of the country's lowest caste, known as Dalits or "untouchables," said they viewed Obama's victory as an example for their own struggle for equal rights.
"This is America's second revolution and Obama's victory will boost the esteem of the underprivileged social classes and ethnic groups the world over," said Chandra Bhan Prasad, a prominent Dalit author. "India's rigid caste society will come under terrific moral pressure to integrate Dalits even more."
In Iran, strained relations with the United States colored many people's perceptions of Obama's victory.
"If America can do away with its prejudice, maybe they will also stop thinking that all Iranians are terrorists," said Elam Moghaddam, a housewife shopping for shrimp in Tehran. "I hope that Iran and the United States will make diplomatic relations, now that Obama became president."
Mohammad Ali Abtahi, a former Iranian vice-president and opponent of current president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, said he feared Obama would be under "lots of pressure" to take a hard line against the Islamic world because of his Muslim roots.
"I hope he won't feel compelled to put more pressure on the Islamic world to compensate the fact that his middle name is Hussein," he said. "I congratulate the American people with this choice."
Praise for the election of an African American also came from an unusual source: Abbas Abdi, one of the organizers of the 1979 hostage-taking of American diplomats at the U.S. embassy.
"It is hard to imagine that blacks fifty years ago in some states had to sit in the backseats in public transportation," he said. "Now one of them, a member from a minority, is president."
Many in China seemed baffled about the possibility of a black president, largely because they seem to know little about American blacks beyond the official state media's emphasis on stories about U.S. discrimination against them.
"Most of Chinese don't have any contact with black people in their daily life," said Yuan Yue, founder of Horizon Research, which conducted a recent poll that found that among Chinese voters with a preference, Obama was leading McCain 33 percent to 15 percent.
"Many Chinese have good feelings about the U.S. democratic system," he said. "And this result gives Chinese a more direct understanding about American democracy. It sends the message that everyone has a chance. If you raise the right issues, even if you are black, you can win. This is the most attractive part of American democracy."
Still, for some in China the Obama glass remained half-full.
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"Listen, the environmental movement is not about protecting the fishes and the birds so much as recognizing that nature is the infrastructure of our communities ... If you're saying the values that drive the environmental movement are uncool and antithetical to America, then I would argue just the opposite. If you think being patriotic is not cool, I'd say that's not true either. I'd say the most patriotic thing you can do is to take care of the environment and try to live sustainably." ~Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
"Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home - so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world. Yet they are the world of the individual person; the neighborhood he lives in; the school or college he attends; the factory, farm, or office where he works. Such are the places where every man, woman, and child seeks equal justice, equal opportunity, equal dignity without discrimination. Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere. Without concerted citizen action to uphold them close to home, we shall look in vain for progress in the larger world." ~ Eleanor Roosevelt
"... To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public. Nothing but the truth should be spoken about him or any one else. But it is even more important to tell the truth, pleasant or unpleasant, about him than about any one else." ~Theodore Roosevelt
"What is objectionable, what is dangerous about extremists, is not that they are extreme, but that they are intolerant. The evil is not what they say about their cause, but what they say about their opponents. " ~ Robert F. Kennedy
“Few will have the greatness to bend history itself; but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total of all those acts will be written the history of this generation.” ~ Robert F. Kennedy
"Anyone who supports Sarah Palin must have walked through the stupid forest and got hit by every branch!" ~ Me
"Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home - so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world. Yet they are the world of the individual person; the neighborhood he lives in; the school or college he attends; the factory, farm, or office where he works. Such are the places where every man, woman, and child seeks equal justice, equal opportunity, equal dignity without discrimination. Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere. Without concerted citizen action to uphold them close to home, we shall look in vain for progress in the larger world." ~ Eleanor Roosevelt
"... To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public. Nothing but the truth should be spoken about him or any one else. But it is even more important to tell the truth, pleasant or unpleasant, about him than about any one else." ~Theodore Roosevelt
"What is objectionable, what is dangerous about extremists, is not that they are extreme, but that they are intolerant. The evil is not what they say about their cause, but what they say about their opponents. " ~ Robert F. Kennedy
“Few will have the greatness to bend history itself; but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total of all those acts will be written the history of this generation.” ~ Robert F. Kennedy
"Anyone who supports Sarah Palin must have walked through the stupid forest and got hit by every branch!" ~ Me
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+3 raves THE ARAMAIC VERSION OF THE LORD'S PRAYER O, Birther of the Cosmos, focus your light within us ... THE ARAMAIC VERSION OF THE LORD'S PRAYER
O, Birther of the Cosmos, focus your light within us -- make it useful
Create your reign of unity now
Your one desire then acts with ours,
As in all light,
So in all forms,
Grant us what we need each day in bread and insight:
Loose the cords of mistakes binding us,
As we release the strands we hold of other's guilt.
Don't let surface things delude us,
But free us from what holds us back.
From you is born all ruling will,
The power and the life to do,
The song that beautifies all,
From age to age it renews.
I affirm this with my whole being. (more) -
Fox Confirms Town Hall Terrorists Dont Even Live In ... Fox Confirms Town Hall Terrorists Dont Even Live In District (more)
+4 raves May all the tea-bagging idiots find themselves out of s job and without healthcare. Karma works ... May all the tea-bagging idiots find themselves out of s job and without healthcare. Karma works in mysterious ways! (more) -
Democratic lawmaker PHYSICALLY ASSAULTED at a Local ... Democratic lawmaker PHYSICALLY ASSAULTED at a Local Event (more)
+5 raves I hope the tea-bag terrorist was arrested and charged with assault. -
Health Care Town Halls "Gone Wild": Right-Wingers Ra... Health Care Town Halls "Gone Wild": Right-Wingers Rampage (more)
+5 raves Obviously the Right--Wingers-Gone-Wild have no clue about...or respect for the historic "town hal... Obviously the Right--Wingers-Gone-Wild have no clue about...or respect for the historic "town hall meeting." A town meeting is a meeting where the population of an entire geographic area is invited to participate in a gathering...often for a political... administrative... or legislative purpose. It is a form of democratic rule that has been used by Americans since the 1600s. Traditionally... a town meeting is a time when community members come together to legislate policy and budgets for their town. However... politicians in the United States have been using the term to represent a forum for voters to ask questions...and it has evolved into a theater of the absurd right-wing-nut-jobs. Their actions imitate mob mentality and they are a disgrace to democracy. If they actually participated in the town hall meeting like a normal human being...they might just learn something...and we all know they can use an education...and they might get their point across. But this gone-wild mentality serves no purpose other than to distract...waste taxpayers money on security and police services otherwise not needed... and only adds to their image of horse's asses.
(more)
-
+3 raves It's wonderful that Bill Clinton was able to secure the release of the two journalists. From a d... It's wonderful that Bill Clinton was able to secure the release of the two journalists. From a diplomatic stand point...it would be great if this event also opened the door to the six-party nuclear disarmament talks. It is refreshing to see that the days of "us verses them" mentality is a thing of the past...like George Bush and Dick Cheney. (more)
-
+2 raves It's true...the birther thing is the most insane political phenomenon in my lifetime.
-
+2 raves There is no evidence of Creationism. The Universe is somewhere between 15 and 20 billion years o... There is no evidence of Creationism. The Universe is somewhere between 15 and 20 billion years old. I personally find the idea of the big bang and evolution lacking purpose as well as it having a hole that has yet to be proven...so I personally believe there was a higher power involved. Creationism in the context of the Bible has absolutely no evidence for... but rather significant evidence against creation by an interfering patriarchal God....especially the idea of a 6,000 years old Earth. (more)
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+5 raves LMAO! Sounds like these phony lawyers have an ax to grind...and are hoping for fame and fortune ... LMAO! Sounds like these phony lawyers have an ax to grind...and are hoping for fame and fortune at any cost. (more)
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Do you know how to look up your state laws and find ... Do you know how to look up your state laws and find what you're looking for? (more)
+3 raves Of course. And it's even easier now that they're all online. -
+3 raves Great article! It is so on spot!
or
spaceamoeba
Heh, sometimes. Well I hope I do.
You post some interesting stuff. :)
Czar Chie...
I feel a song coming on! LOL
Czar Chie...
LMAO!! Oh.. don't forget to wear a hat!!
</At
LOL maybe he'll have to say it again..
Nemo
Haven't seen you around lately?
Hope all is well and may Athena watch over you!
Nemo
Jcap ~ Pe...
http://us.st12.yimg.com/us.st... Hi Saoirse! Thanks
Mar Tini
Hello Czar Soairse,
I just wanted to stop by and wish you a wonder filled weekend and basque in the green!
Mar Tini
Czar Chie...
LOL! We know how to spot em!!
CZAR JAG
moderated...
Ali ~ In ...
Czar Chie...
LMAO!!
Where to next? There's always the
Czar Chie...
Po thang! They DO look sorta real! LOL!!
Czar Chie...
LOL!!
Czar Chie...
Howdy!!
Czar Chie...
LOL!!
CZAR JAG
moderated...
CZAR JAG
moderated...
CZAR JAG
moderated...
CZAR JAG
moderated...
CZAR JAG
moderated...
Black&Bea...